Sunny Side Up Bacon Cupcakes

How could I resist making these?

I saw this on another blog - That's So Michelle  I've modified the recipe a bit, but the idea is essentially the same!

Yield:  About 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix
3 egg whites
9 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup water 

Egg (Cream Cheese Frosting):

16 ounces (2 pkg) cream cheese (room temperature)

2 cups powdered sugar 

Yolk (Maple Frosting)

8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)

1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons maple extract
2 teaspoons orange food coloring

Salt and Pepper:
Chocolate and White Sugar Sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl or electric mixer, combine cake mix, egg whites, water, oil and maple syrup.  Meanwhile, fry bacon until crisp and drain on paper towels.  Chop into small bits, then mix the bacon into the batter.  Fill cupcake liners or pan with the batter about 3/4 full.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until set.

To make the frosting, simply mix ingredients with a whisk or electric mixture to desired consistency.  For the maple frosting, be sure to use enough food coloring to make the yolk bright and pretty!

When the cupcakes are done, remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Now for the fun part!  Using a spatula or knife, spread white frosting smoothly over the top.  For the egg yolk, I used a small melon baller to measure out the shape and size, then patted it down with the back of it.  Piping this on with a decorating bag would have probably been easier... I just didn't think of it at the time!

Finally, "season' the egg with the salt (sugar sprinkles) and pepper (chocolate sprinkles) and serve!  Enjoy!

Tips:  This will probably make more frosting than you need.  But, good news... you can freeze the leftovers and use in another recipe... this maple frosting is delicious on spice cake!